Apertured hat and method of making the same



Oct. 11, 1932. A. E. HODSHON APERTURED HAT AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 28. 1931 0 O Q c w, va a a 3% v? RM m MM w m R W 21 A E w H fl Y B S W m w m Patented Oct. 11, 1932 more!) STATES PATENT; OFFICE AIJEREDE. HODSHON, OE BET HEL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOHAT'CORPORATION OF AMERICA, NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE AIPERTURED I-IAT AND METHOD MAKING THE SAME- Application filed April 28,

My invention relates to hats made of felted fibres and provided with apertures. The particular object of my invention is a hat,

vprovided with apertures, which .may be blocked, that is, subjected to fairly severe stretching operations, without distorting to any appreciable extent the edges of the material surrounding the apertures or breaking the material between the apertures if the latter are arranged in close proximity to one another. I accomplish this object by so producing the hat that the edgeportion of the material immediately surrounding each aperture has a large number of its fibres, lie parallel to the edge of the aperture and others lock them into place, thus forming a very strong ring-like structure performing the function of a selvage. In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated by way of example, but not by way of limitation, my preferred methods of producing the hat of my invention. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a perforated cone, such as is :COIIlHlOIllY used in the manufacture of felted hats, but having some of its perforations closed by the application of discs; Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-section of the upper portion of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of "a cone such as illustrated in 1, in which, however, some of the perforations, instead of being closed by discs, are omitted altogether; Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-section of the upper portion of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a side ielevationof a hat made in accordance with my invention; Fig. 6 is a cross-section along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a section similar to Fig.6, but showing a plaque of filling material in the aperture.

In the manufactureof felt hats, suitably 40 treated i. e. carrotted fur fibres are distributed in the atmosphere over a perforated hollow cone and are drawn against the ex-' terior of the cone by the removal of air from Lfhe interior thereof, for instance, by a suctionapparatus. The aggregate of fibres in quantity sufficient for the manufacture of a hat, when thus laidup on the exterior of the cone, is called a bat. This bat is then moistened with-hot water to cause an incipient felting of the fibres. This may be done by 1931. Serial No. 533,434.

placing a non-perforated cover over the bat" water. Then the cover cone is removed, the

cloths are removed, the forming cone is m-. verted, and the bat is stripped offin the same manner in which a stocking is removedfrom the human leg, that is, the edge being first moved away from the cone and thetip lastf The wet bat has become slightlyfelted so that the fibres cohere and the bat may be manipulated. A number of the bats are wrapped in a cloth and the excess water is squeezed out by the application of pressure.

Each bat is then laid down so as to assume a triangular outline and, preferably wrapped in cloth, is rolled in hot water and on a.

plank until the fibres have been moved sufficiently to cause the bat to shrink and thus to assume the condition of a compactfelt. 1 This process as practiced with-apparatusof the older art, is described in detail in the opinion of the Supreme Court invBurr *v.

Dwyee, 1 Vallace, 531.v The practice of my improved method differs from that of the prior art only in the provision of apertures in the bat, either during the stage of its preliminary formation or at some time before the felting process has advanced to a substantial extent. I have therefore illustrated in my drawing only the perforated cone as modified to produce such apertures, the remainder of the apparatus beingsuch as is well known in the art.

My invention, as already indicated, contemplates the provision of apertures in the hat material before the felting operation has advanced to a considerable extent and pref erably before the felting operation has-begun. My-preferred method is to lay up a bat 'in" such a manner that it will have' aperturessufficiently large so that'the finished hat'will= be provided with apertures of the desired size. For this purp-oseI provide a forming cone which, when the fur fibres'are drawn thereon by the removal of air from thein-- terior of the cone, will prevent deposition of fibres over the areas corresponding to the apertures with which it is desired to provide the bat. This may be done by blocking up the perforations in the cone lying within such portions of its surface upon which fibres are not to be deposited, or by constructing a cone which is not provided with perforations within such portions. Fig. 3 illustrates a cone of this type. I prefer, however, in order to build up stronger and more closely defined edges, to provide the cone with discs such as illustrated in Fig. 1, such dics being of substantial height so as to constitute not only blocking means for the apertures covered by them but also upwardly extending walls against which some of the fibres may be laid up or forced for a substantial distance in a form generally corresponding to the outline of the proposed aperture.

It is well known that an enormous shrinkage takes place in the manufacture of a complet'ed felt hat from the original bat. Therefore, the earlier the apertures are'provided in the bat the larger they will have to be in order to result in apertures of the desired size inthe finished hat. The relation of the size of the original aperture to that of the aperture in the completed hat will depend somewhat upon the size and thickness of the latter, but can readily be determined bye periment. For instance, with a hat containing two ounces of rabbits fur and approxi mately one-twelfth of an inch thick, an aperture three-quarters of an inch in diameter should be provided in the original bat in order to have the aperture of the completed hat three-eighths of an inch in diameter.

I have found that there is a very strong tendency for the fibres, whatever may be the shape of the original aperture, to felt in such a way as to cause the final aperture to be of rounded outline. Thus, if the original apertures are triangular or square, the completed apertures will be of oval or rounded configuration; but the best results, mechanically speaking, are obtained if the original aperture is round. I may obviously make the apertures in the bat of any suitable design.

As the bat shrinks not only in a horizontal direction but also in a vertical direction, the bat will have to be laid up to a thickness two or more times larger than that of the thickness of the finished hat. I It is desirable to have the thickness of the discs at least equal to the depth of the completed bat although it is not absolutely necessary to have the discs as'thick as the bat; however, other things being equal, the smaller the proposed aperture the thicker should be the disc, and for apertures of a very small size the disc should preferably extend beyond the completed bat so as to prevent the loose ends of fur fibres from crossing the aperture above the disc and thus result in the formation of '7 a thin layer of felt closing the aperture or,

in any event, diminishing the distinctness of the outline of the latter.

After the bat has been formed with the apertures in the manner described, it is shrunk in the same manner in which ordinary nonape'rtured bats are felted. However, the material surrounding the apertures as it shrinks assumes a condition unlike that of the remaining portion of the hat body. So far as I can at present determine, a large number of the fibres are locked into a position paralleling the edge of the aperture while others appear to be locked into a position in which they extend from the outside to the inside of the hat and act as locking means for the former group of fibres, thus forming a i'bre covered edge as distinguished from an edge presenting a large number of cut ends of fibres. It is to this type of edge to which I refer in my claims as a selvage.

I am well aware that felt hats have been provided with apertures, but so far as I know these apertures have been provided by punching, cutting or perforating after the felting has been completed. Hats provided with apertures in accordance with my invention have no out fibres at the edges of such apertures but, on the contrary, have the apertures provided with such a strong selvage-like binding that the hat may be blocked by a strong stretching operation, or may be pounced without either breaking the material lying between the'apertures or so distorting the apertures as to detract from their appearance. This makes it possible for me to deliver to milliners partially blocked hats known in the trade as rough bodies which may then be stretched to meet the particular desires of the customer. In the blocking operation the greatest stress is exerted on the tip portion of the hat, but there will be no enlargement of the apertures in my hat even though they are provided at or near the tip.

In Fig. 1, the forming cone A is provided with the usual perforations 10, and with discs 11 which may be attached to the cone in any suitable manner, for instance, by soldering or riveting. As shown in Fig. 2, these discs cover up certain of the apertures 10 so as to mak it impossible for air or, at least, a strong current of air, to flow therethrough to the interior of the cone and thus to deposit fibres in the area defined by the covered perforations; they serve also to furnish the upwardly extending walls for the purpose heretofore described. In Fig. 3, the forming cone Bis provided with the usual perforations 12. These perforations, however, as clearly indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, are omitted over certain circular areas such as 13, so as to prevent the deposit of fibres on such areas. Figs. 3 and 1- serve to illustrate also a cone containing the usual perforations, some of which have been closed by autogenous welding. Or-

dinary solder or other, suitable material may be used to fill the perforations within the areas 13. Obviouslydiscs 11, or their mechanical equivalents in such connection, rings of the same depth as that of the disc, may be applied also to the circular areas 13 so as to furnish walls for the purpose described.

Fig. 5 illustrates a hat C provided with apertures 14, made in accordance with my invention but the hat of this figure is not drawn to the same scale as are Figs. 1 to 4 but on a very much larger scale. Fig. 6 shows on a greatly enlarged scale a portion of the hat containing one of the apertures 14. The selvage-like edge is shown at 15.

If the apertures in the finished hat are to be comparatively small, for instance, to have a diameter of about one-quarter of an inch, it is practically essential to use discs 11, whose thickness should be at least twice that of the finished hat, so that the finished aperture may have clearly defined edges. It is not practicable to produce such small apertures with the cone shown in Figs. 3 and 4 as the resulting edges will not be clearly defined.

When a bat provided with apertures has once been shrunk so that the rudiments of the selvage'like or fibre covered edge have been formed, the further shrinking of the bat will have a very strong tendency to complete the fibre covered edge as hereinabove described, even if additional fibres are placed into the aperture and felted when such edge is being felted. It therefore becomes possible to place fur fibres of a color contrasting with that of the main body of the hat into the aperture and then, by continuing the felting, to produce a hat with an aperture filled with felt of a contrasting color. Thus, at any stage of the felting after the selvage-like or fibre covered edge has been formed in rudimentary form, I may fill the apertures with additional fibres, preferably by placing the bat on an ordinary perforated cone and then drawing such additional fibres into the apertures in the manner in which the original bat was laid up. Preferably I shrink the bat down to three-quarters of its original area so as to have the selvage-like edge firmly established before filling the apertures with fibres in the manner hereinabove described. The fibres filling the aperture will form a plaque of fur whose edges are felted lightly into the selvage edge, but such a plaque being formed of a lesser number of fibres per square unit of area than the portions formed from the original bat will, except at the edge portions, be thinner than such main portion.

In Fig. 7 I have illustrated an aperture lled with a plaque 16 produced in the manner described. The character of the aperture not having been changed merely by filling it, it may properly be referred to in my claims as an aperture.

I am not confined to the particular methods illustrated for producing apertures in the bat. Any method of producing apertures in a bat may be employed provided the fibres are not cut thereby, as any substantial proportion of cut fibres will interfere with the proper production of the selvage-like edge which is the characteristic feature of my invention. I'may, for instance, remove material from an ordinary bat after the latter has been formed, or I may crowd fibres away from a given portion of the bat into the remainder of the bat, for instance, by the use of a perforatin tool. In practice, however, I find that if the outline of the aperture of the finished hat is to be clear and distinct, the use of the disc-covered cone as illustrated in Fig. 1 is almost essential.

The discs 11 when applied to the cone of Fig. 3 perform only the function of providing a wall against which the fibres are laid up; whereas when applied to the cone of Fig. 1 they perform not only such function, but

also that of creating an imperforate area.

When in my claims I speak of a cone having an imperforate area, I include in such eX- pression also a cone some of whose perforations have been closed by the superposition of a disc.

I claim:

1. A felted body provided with an aperture defined by portions felted so as to present a selvage to such a erture.

2. A felted body as claimed in claim 1 in which the aperture is provided with a plaque 0f felted material.

3. The process of producing a felted body provided with an aperture which consists in forming a bat with an aperture surrounded by fibres of substantially the same length as used in forming'the remainder of the bat, and then shrinking such bat.

4. The process of producing a felted body provided with an aperture, which consists informing a bat with an aperture surrounded by fibresof substantially the same length as used in forming the remainder of the bat, at least some of the fibres being laid up in a form corresponding to the outline of the aperture, and then shrinking such bat.

5. In the process of producing a felted body provided with an aperture as defined in claim 3, the step of filling the aperture in the bat with fibres after the fibre covered edge has commenced to form and before the shrinking operation has been completed.

ALFRED E. HODSHON. 

